editor's review

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Thinstation is an open source Linux-based operating system that provides users with all the necessary tools to transform a personal computer into a full-featured thin client. The distribution has been crafted to support all major connectivity protocols, including SSH, Telnet, No Machine NX, Citrix ICA, RDP (Microsoft Windows terminal services), Tarantella, VMS term, and tn5250.

Distributed as a diskless ISO image

It is distributed as a single, diskless ISO image that can only be installed (no Live CD is available at this time). The ISO can be booted over the network using Etherboot/PXE, as well as from a USB flash drive, external hard disk drive or CD disc.

The system has been engineered to support client-side storage (Floppy/HDD/CD/USB) and printers (LPT/USB). Booting the installer ISO image will create a server that doesn't require special configuration.

Boot options

When starting the boot medium, users will be able to choose between several screen resolutions. It will immediately start the text-mode installer, allowing you to deploy the build environment along with the development environment into /thinstation.

In addition, it will automatically transform the machine into a PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) boot server, simply by installing a bootable Thinstation image onto the local hard disk drive.

Users who want to boot this clients from this Thinstation workstation, will need to first assign a static IP address to the Mac address on their DHCP server. Then, they should be able to set a boot file to pxelinux.0 and set the boot server for their network to the respective IP address configured in the first step.

Uses the IceWM window manager

Thinstation supports the Mozilla Firefox and various other lightweight web browsers as client-side browsers. The configuration of the thin client can be centralized in order to simplify management. All in all, Thinstation proves to be a modern thin client distribution of Linux that works on its own and allows for basic tasks, such as Internet surfing or management of printers and removable drives. It uses the lightweight IceWM window manager.